A Diamond in the Rough
by acertainaddict
Summary: A young girl has the power to read minds, but one dey, someone comes along whose mind she cannot read..the story of Isis, a girl who leads a revolution agaist the rogue and sets the entire kingdom of tortal on its head(ill get to the good part eventually)
1. chapitre 1

. Chapter One:  
  
There was nothing spectacular about that face, a pert nose, freckled cheeks a stubborn mouth. It was the face of a commoner. Her cheeks were not the usual plum cheeks; rather they thin and slightly flushed. Clearly she had had a hard life.  
  
She had always known she was different. Her magic had allowed her to understand people's thoughts- all people's thoughts, even those who had the Gift. She had heard ever since childhood that this was impossible, and so she had never told anyone. And they had never suspected  
  
************ ************* *************** ************ ************  
  
"Kimmy! Get down here this instant and help me with the dishes!"  
  
"Coming, Mother!" the girl replied. She walked down the narrow stairway. How she hated her house! The paint was peeling off of the walls and she could have sworn the floorboards were rotted through and were going to collapse at any minute. She made sure to walk lightly so that the floor did not come crashing down around her- or, rather, that she did not go crashing through the floor. Eventually she made it into the kitchen.  
  
"Kim! How many times do I need to tell you to help me around the house! I cannot get everything done by myself, you know."  
  
"I'm sorry, mother," the girl softly replied.  
  
"You were up there reading again, weren't you?" Kimmy looked down at these words. In truth, she had crawled down the side (there was a pipe that she could slide down near her window) of her house and into the street again, eager to find something of good value to steal for the Rogue.  
  
Ever since Aine had taken over the court of the Rogue, there had been a pressing demand for precious jewels. Aine had changed the idea of "steal what you can, when you can" to "steal when I tell you to, or die." Because of this, Kimmy, or Isis, as she had been nicknamed, had been forced to sneak away from her house whenever she had a chance to go "jewel hunting."  
  
She saw exactly what she needed. The king's son was riding through the market. He was not dressed formally, so no one recognized him for who he was. She did though, and she took advantage of this. She slipped through the crowd toward him, deciding what she would take. There was a small jewel hanging off of his bracelet. She reached for it and somehow managed to unhook it from where it was clasped. She stood where she was, hearing nothing inside of the mind of the king.  
  
That is definitely unusual. Kim thought to herself. She stared after the boy, and when he turned and looked at her, she gave him look for look. It's almost as if he knows I took something from him. How strange! She would, however, have to think about this later because she needed to return to her house before her mother realized that she was gone. She turned and slipped into her house.  
  
She did not notice the faint glowing of the jewel in her pocket. The prince did, and he took note of the house where she disappeared.  
  
He turned to his comrade, riding by his side and said, "She has it." 


	2. chapitre 2

Wow, sorry people...I just read through that last chapter and say wow. Next time I shall try harder. I swear. And if you were curious, I spell "day" as dey. So no, that is not a typo. REMEMBER KIMMY=ISIS!  
  
Disclaimer: this is based in Tamora Pierce's world...not my own...so many of the references are hers....not mine.  
  
Oh, and by the way, I didn't really know what to do for thoughts, so I put the thoughts between astrix (*)  
  
Chapter Two:  
  
"Kimmy?"  
  
Isis looked up into her mother's face, startled.  
  
"I hate it when you start daydreaming like that! I never know what you are thinking. Maybe I should confiscate those books until you can start showing me respect when I talk to you!"  
  
"I'm sorry, mother."  
  
"I'm tired of hearing that from you! Go to your room, and I don't want to hear any more from you tonight!"  
  
Isis returned to her room, being careful to tread lightly as she ascended the staircase. She climbed to her room on the third story and top floor of the building, walked into a small hallway. There were two doors: one was hers; the other belonged to the attic. She was the only one who lived on this floor.  
  
Walking into her bedroom, Isis decided that she was going to go out again. She changed into her "street clothes," pants and a shirt. Normally, she had to wear a dress (courtesy of her mother). When she was in the streets, playing the part of a thief, however, her mother had no influence on her. Largely because her mother had no idea that "Kimmy" was Isis and involved with the rogue.  
  
Feeling giddy in her dark clothes, Isis made her way over to the window. She looked down, and listened to see if anyone was coming (her window faced a dark alley that was rarely entered by anyone else). No one was coming, so she slipped down the metal pipe attached to her room. People watching this would be amazed that a girl could slip something that appeared so fragile. Isis was light though, and careful: she did not want to fall three stories.  
  
She glided through the alleyway, heading for the Dancing Dove. As she approached the main street, a thought struck her. *I haven't checked the jewel for value! I shouldn't offer something that might be rubbish! Or really expensive!* With this, Isis took out the jewel.  
  
It was glowing softly, causing her to shove it under her shirt and run into a nearby clump of bushes so that she could look at it without worrying about the problem of passerby who might see what she was doing. She didn't want to risk that.  
  
When Isis took the jewel back out from under her shirt, it was glowing more brightly than it had before: it seemed to have some sort of reaction with her skin. But the jewel! It was the colour of a diamond, but it kept changing, sometimes with blue tinges, sometimes with red tinges, and sometimes with purple and gold and green. It was beautiful.  
  
While she was looking at the jewel, a poem she had heard as a child, far back into her memory, came into her mind, as if summoned:  
  
"In the time of need  
  
The goddess' daughter  
  
Will come to the aid of her people  
  
First they will refuse her  
  
Then they will adorn her  
  
Burn her  
  
But finally they will cherish her."  
  
*Wow, that was really random, I must not be getting enough sleep* Isis though. She decided that she would keep the jewel, however, especially considering that the value was far beyond that of anything she had ever handled. It would be a waste to turn the thing in.  
  
Isis decided that she would feel better if she went and stole something. She needed to stock up, anyway.  
  
About to head out to the street, Isis heard someone was hurrying her way. *No one had better see me here. If mother finds out that I have been out of palace grounds again, she will burn me alive!! Aulii had better have given me good advice, or I will drown her. I hope he's here! Where is he? He should be here by now*  
  
The thoughts of a young girl, clearly a nervous one, were very clear. Soon a figure came onto the street where Isis stood, waiting in the brush.  
  
As the bundled girl came closer, Isis could see that she was a person of noble rank. Somehow she could always tell these things. Most commoners could not tell, particularly if the royalty was disguised. Isis had always assumed that it was part of her magic; this was another thing she had never shared with anyone. Well, actually, she had never told anyone that she had the gift, nor was she planning to.  
  
This girl was too nervous to notice a slender hand snake out from the bushes as she brushed past them or to feel a ring slipped off her finger. A very expensive ring. She continued to walk along that ally for the next 10 minutes and then, when she realized "he" had not come, made her way back up to the palace, disheartened.  
  
A/N: (haha, im not telling you what she needs to stock up for) I will eventually though, never fear...  
  
Please review!!! I will love you forever! Well, maybe not, but review anyway....and please tell me what I need help with (other than proofreading, I know im terrible) thanks for reading my story!!!! 


	3. chapitre 3

Um..ya im really stupid:: ( in the first chapter....)  
  
She saw exactly what she needed. The king's son was riding through the market. He was not dressed formally, so no one recognized him for who he was. She did though, and she took advantage of this. She slipped through the crowd toward him, deciding what she would take. There was a small jewel hanging off of his bracelet. She reached for it and somehow managed to unhook it from where it was clasped. She stood where she was, hearing nothing inside of the mind of the king.  
  
That is supposed to be "inside the mind of the king's son."  
  
Sorry about the confusion and my stupidity...lol.  
  
Chapter 3:  
  
The prince was pacing his study. His mind was contemplating the dey's events. A girl - a member of the rogue- had taken the jewel. Surely she would give it to her master, who then would attempt to use it and mistakenly destroy his "kingdom."  
  
He gave a contemptuous "hmmp" at the word kingdom. As prince, he did not like the fact that there was a kingdom (A/N: aka: the court of the rogue, if you didn't pick that up) within his kingdom, and that its citizens were more loyal to their leader than they were to him. This is why he had devised his plan to ride through town, accompanied only by his friend, Kai. He would have the expensive-looking jewel hanging off of his bracelet, easy to unhook, so that any person who was looking to steal would not have a tough time of it at all.  
  
He knew that his people considered him to be a soft, noble prince, who was completely naïve as to the nature of his people. They thought him to be stupid, without the Gift, and without any skill in the fighting arts. The truth was that he had become a knight on his eighteenth birthdey, just as custom dictated for the heir to the throne. He did not want to parade it, as was the custom. Instead of the large party that was usually had for the heir, he just had a small family dinner with his parents.  
  
Atricin also had the gift, very strongly. He could do a little healing, but his main gifts were in mind-reading/control and in warfare. That is how he could hear the thoughts of Isis, almost as clearly as if she had spoken. He had to admit that her thoughts were strange- and they had some sort of strange energy.  
  
She had thought *I can't hear anything. That's definitely unusual.* What had she meant by it? She did not have the gift. He would have been able to see it if she did. Still, that energy in her thought was not usual for the thoughts of some common girl. And the fact that the crystal glowed in her hand....  
  
He would have to think it through.  
  
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***  
  
Isis had been back in her room for about an hour now, with the door locked. She was examining the jewel, trying to see what it could do. When she put it down on her bed, it stopped glowing, but the second she picked it up, it started glowing again. She had just started trying to put herself inside the stone, to see what it might hold. After trying twice, she gave up for a while with a bad headache, resolving to try again on the morrow.  
  
It was time to go to bed, anyway. Isis washed her face, changed into her pajamas, and crawled into bed. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.  
  
It was suddenly very warm in the room. Isis opened her eyes to see a bright light, a figure forming in the midst. Immediately she scrambled out of bed and grabbed the knife that she always kept under her pillow. She was an expert with a knife. (Better than George himself- and he was a legend in her time.)  
  
"Put down your knife," a strangely calming voice said.  
  
"I will if you show yourself!" Isis challenged. The light dimmed. Isis saw a beautiful woman, who, strangely enough, looked quite like her. But she didn't register the fact at that moment. She was busy collapsing to her knees as she realized that the Great Mother Goddess stood before her. In her very own bedroom!  
  
"Now will you put that knife down? It is not polite to threaten your mother."  
  
The plot thickens.......dun dun dun. Well poor you, you don't know what I have planned. ::evil grin:: but I do. And im not telling.  
  
I will tell (eventually) if you review, however. SO REVIEW!!! (just in case you didn't get the hint) TANKS!!!! 


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